(24 Feb 2014, 7:18 pm)Dan wrote Indeed. Andreos1 made the point in regards to Go North East doing it before, and I was commenting on the fact that Arriva are guilty of it likewise. I've no idea what the loadings were like on services 22/23/24 before but on the Tyne & Wear section of services 23/24, they're not great. Service 24 is indeed better, but that's perhaps due to passengers travelling onwards towards Durham rather than anything else.
Like I said before, I see both sides to the argument. While I do get the point being made in regards to the loss of passengers and agree with it somewhat, vehicle running costs as well as drivers' wages are often expensive. It's for that reason why propping an early morning/late night/Sunday service up by using profits generated earlier in the day isn't as good. I really can't relate though, which is why my views are skewed somewhat.
There's a fine line between propping up evening/Sunday services and giving value to the service at off peak, less profitable times, in order to sell weekly tickets to your regular passengers. Especially at these off peak times, if you're going to chop services to the bone and offer connections then you have to make sure they work properly.